Cellular phones have become significant players in a technological revolution. Since cellular phones first became available in the early 1980's, the number of people owning them has increased yearly by approximately 40%. It is estimated that there are currently in the range of 80 million cellular telephone users in the United States alone. Cellular phones themselves have metamorphized from heavy, cumbersome, expensive devices to light, miniature, inexpensive units. Changes in the physical features of cellular phones have encouraged changes in when, where and how people use cellular phones. Cellular phones and other portable communications devices have been key in making the populace more mobile and more sophisticated technologically.
PDA (personal digital assistant) is a term for any small mobile hand-held device that provides computing and information storage and retrieval capabilities for personal or business use. Many PDAs have a small keyboard; some have an electronically sensitive pad on which handwriting can be received. Typically, PDAs are used for scheduling, keeping an address book and note-entering. Additionally, many applications have been written for PDAs. Increasingly, PDAs are combined with telephones and paging systems and now are commonly used to send faxes and e-mail. Most PDAs can connect to other computers, either through telephone lines, radio waves or a computer cable. Many PDAs have PC card slots for attaching modems and other auxiliary devices.
Recent technological trends in mobile communications and computer hardware and software and the desire to work “on-the-road” have resulted in a move towards integration of technologies. Wireless communications can now be used to create a truly mobile office, including the receipt of e-mail, fax and Internet services in addition to telephone, voice mail and paging capabilities on the portable communications device. Frequently, these services provide a string of text that is displayed on the wireless unit.
The reduced size, reduced cost and increased functionality of the cellular telephone, and the increased prevalence and popularity of PDAs have resulted in the increased use of cellular telephones and PDAs by drivers while driving. Because of the public's concern for safety on the roadways, however, the use of cellular phones and PDAs while driving is a subject of some controversy and considerable public and legislative concern. One way that safety issues are being addressed is the incorporation into vehicle design of a projection display, such as a so-called “Heads Up Display” (HUD). A HUD typically displays information translucently on the windshield so that the driver can look at the display of computer generated information without taking his eyes off the road.
The inventors are unaware of any way, however, by which textual data from a cellular phone or other portable communications device can be displayed on the automobile's windshield using the vehicle's projection display system. It would be advantageous to have such a device so that textual information from a cellular telephone, PDA, or other portable communications device could be displayed in such a fashion that the driver would be able to see the information without taking his eyes from the road. Likewise a need exists to have a mechanism by which the portable communications device is controlled, to be located in a site where the controls can be activated without the driver's eyes leaving the road.